


Ice

by HellsLittleLiar



Series: Prompts [21]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Internalized Homophobia, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-17
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-05-21 07:59:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6044074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HellsLittleLiar/pseuds/HellsLittleLiar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve wakes up for the first time in seventy years. It's a cold reality occasionally punctured by warm brown eyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Steve shivered. He was cold- so cold. Why was he so cold? His fingers and toes were numb. He couldn’t feel his hands and feet. The rest of his body was wet. Why was he wet? What had happened? The last thing he remembered was sitting in the pilot’s seat while he gave a false promise to Peggy that he would meet her at the Stork Club, eight o’clock on the dot. He shivered again. The plane had been above the ocean. He had crashed the plane in to the ocean. Yes, that must be where he was. That explained a lot. Like why he couldn’t breathe. 

It did not explain why he couldn’t breathe and yet he was still alive. He struggled against himself for several minutes, but eventually he managed to force open his eyes.  
He opened them to find that he was, rather than in an all encompassing and unforgiving ocean, he was in a sterile looking room. The ceiling was a clean white. The walls were a clean white. Steve couldn’t move enough to look, but he guessed that if he could snatch a peak, then the floor would be the same clean, sterile white. He had been looking at it for about five seconds and it was already driving him insane.

His eyes slid back shut, not waiting for his permission. 

The next time he opened them, he appeared to be in the same room, only now he could make out the details. The ceiling had slight cracks in that he did not see before. The walls had some scuff markings that usually happened when people brushed against them often. It was especially noticeable on white walls. He wasn’t entirely sure why his enhanced eyesight hadn’t picked it up before but decided that it was probably because he was too disoriented to notice anything detailed.

His hand and feet were still numb but the rest of his body felt less soaked than it had before. Although it was still slightly damp. Steve hoped that this wasn’t his new permanent state of being. He could not live permanently damp without the feeling in his hands and feet. Steve paused as he took in that thought. He had heard horror stories about the cold and damp- frostbite being the main one. He had the superserum, but he didn’t know if that removed the possibility of frostbite. What if he couldn’t feel his appendages because he no longer had them?

That was a horrifying thought. His heart rate picked up immediately. He felt his breaths coming out of him rapidly, which was disturbingly reassuring since earlier he didn’t think he was breathing at all. 

“Hey, handsome.” A warm, male voice sounded out of Steve’s line of sight. “I see you’re feeling better.”  
A door slammed in to a wall. “GOD DAMNIT, STARK, I TOLD YOU TO STAY OUT OF HERE!”  
“Aww, but Nicky, you know I don’t like doing what you say. Besides you can’t just ban me from a room and then tell me that it’s ‘cause Captain Freaking America is in there!”

Stark? Howard? It didn’t sound much like Howard. Maybe it was a relative. Steve couldn’t think of any relatives Howard had, but then again, he didn’t really know the man well enough to meet his family. Either way, Nicky did not seem happy that Stark was in the room with Steve. Steve hoped that Stark wasn’t going to face any reprimand from his commanding officer. He sounded harmless really- like a kid that just wanted a glance at his favourite celebrity, which for all Steve knew, he could be. Wait. Was this an army base? They didn’t let a child into an army base did they? Because if they did, when Steve woke up he was going to have words.

 

Tony was very excited. He had reason to be. SHIELD had found Captain America frozen in the Arctic and he was still alive! Now he just had to meet and make friends with the man, then all of his childhood dreams will have come true. Except the one where he marries Captain America. That was a bit embarrassing and he had never shared it with anyone, especially not Howard, so let’s just keep this between ourselves, shall we?  
In fact, Tony had been so excited that he had ducked the hypothetical police tape and entered the room they were keeping him in. He had just come back from throwing a fit down at the medical bay because the scientists had wanted to do experiments with the man’s blood while he was unconscious and had no way to consent. And while Tony was all about experiments, he was in no way about non-consensual things.

He had just wanted to have a little chat with the man while he was waking up, but Fury had to go and ruin that by following him in and having a fit. While he was being yelled at by Nick Fury, which had become routine by this point in his eighteen years of life, Captain America twitched.  
Tony snapped his neck around to stare at the man.  
“Did you see that?”  
Fury scowled. “Stark, if you think you’re going to get out of this that easy, you got another thing coming-”  
Fury broke off in the middle of what he was saying when Captain America twitched again. The blonde man let out a groan and Tony grinned. He wondered what noises the man made in bed, but shook out those thoughts as they were entirely inappropriate for this situation. Not that Tony was afraid of being inappropriate, but it was probably a good idea to get the man used to the twenty first century before attempting to hit on him.

Captain America let out a whine and scrunched up his face, turning his head to the side, as though the lighting was too bright. It was too bright. Tony thought if he woke up in a strange place under a light that bright, he would think he had been abducted by aliens. Fury obviously thought the exact same thing- well, maybe not exactly the same but something similar, as he got out his comm and ordered some junior agent to dim the light. Tony had the absurd thought for a moment that Fury would make a good theatre director. He was pretty good at giving orders and yelling and Tony was pretty sure that was all you needed to be a director.

Tony had the sudden realisation that Fury’s job title was actually ‘Director’.  
Well done, Genius.  
Nick Fury is the Director of SHIELD.

Tony shot over to Captain America’s side. There was no way Fury would make him miss this! He was going to be there when Captain America woke up in the twenty first century! Tony reminded himself that the man would probably be a lot less excited than Tony was, as he had just lost everything he had ever known and not everyone was a futurist like Tony who would have loved to see what the world looked like the next century over.

Despite Tony’s totally selfless worldview in the previous moment, once the Captain’s eyes fluttered open like a princess in a fairy tale, Tony could not help but lean over him and grin crazily.  
“Welcome to ze world of tomorrow!” He declared, dramatically, throwing his arms out to encompass his scene. He heard Fury choking behind him. Tony knew he was trying not to laugh. Obviously. Yep. That is definitely Fury trying not to laugh and definitely not Fury deciding whether or not he wants to shoot Tony.  
It seemed that Tony was not the only joker in the room, though, as Captain America’s immediate response was;  
“Tomorrow? And here I thought I had slept longer than that.”

 

Steve had had enough of lying there, not being able to move or talk to anyone. He was determined to get up today. He managed a groan and some incomprehensible whining. Eventually he got his eyes to open and hovering above him was the face of what could have been an angel. If he hadn’t already decided that he wasn’t dead, he would have humiliated himself by asking if this was heaven.  
The beautiful boy above him had flawlessly golden tanned skin; plush, kissable lips widened into a gorgeous smile and the most amazing, sparkling, brown doe eyes he had ever seen. The boy had welcomed him to the future in a ridiculous voice and Steve had responded like a complete idiot. The first thing he said to the gorgeous boy and it was a dumb joke? He wanted to slap himself. Then again, it wasn’t like Steve could flirt with the boy even if he wanted to- that was so illegal it wasn’t even funny that Captain America, paragon of virtue, was considering it. Steve snorted to himself in resentment at the term.

Paragon of virtue, his ass.

He sat up quickly. Too quickly, he noted as the blood rushed from his head and he had to lie back down again.  
“Woah!” The boy in front of him exclaimed, nervously, “are you alright? Do you need a doctor?”  
“Peggy!” Steve gasped, gripping the boy’s wrist. “Where’s Peggy? Is she alright? Did I- Did I miss our date? Is it Friday, yet? I didn’t miss it, did I?”  
“Cap! Cap, I need you to calm down, okay? Take deep breaths.”  
This seemed like good advice so Steve chose to follow it. If something had happened to Peggy or one of the other Commandos, surely they would inform him as soon as he woke up. He regretted that line of thought when he realised that the boy’s beautiful face was twisted into a concerned frown.  
“Cap- Steve, it’s, uh, it’s been a long time since you went down in that plane.”  
A long time. How long? “How long?”  
“Seventy years.”  
Steve stared at the boy, dumbstruck. “Seventy.” He whispered to himself. “Seventy years… did we win?”  
“Huh?” The boy tilted his head in confusion.  
“The war.” Steve snapped. “Did we at least win the war?”  
The boy nodded, looking slightly fearful now Steve had yelled. He regretted it almost immediately. It wasn’t the boy’s fault. No fearful expression should be placed on that boy’s face. Steve felt the need to protect him from whatever he was scared of, which unfortunately at that moment was Steve, himself.  
“Hey,” He said in a much quieter tone. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. You don’t have to be scared of me, I won’t hurt you.” He encouraged, soothingly.

The boy just looked confused. “I’m not-”  
Whatever he had to say was cut off by another man that Steve had not noticed before. “That’s enough. It’s good to see your awake, Captain Rogers, but it’s time Stark got out of here.”  
Stark. That’s who the boy was? He was seventy years in the future and the boy was probably at least a distant relative of Howard’s. What were the chances of him finding another “Stark?”  
“Yeah,” Stark replied. “Tony Stark. You knew Howard Stark, right?”  
Steve nodded even though the boy- Tony was continuing to talk anyway.  
“I’m his son.”  
Steve stared. “His- his son?” Who would have ever thought that Howard Stark would have a child? He hadn’t. He had just assumed that Howard would continue on his merry bachelor way for the rest of his life. Unless Tony was born out of wedlock. He seemed a little young to be Howard’s son, if he was really seventy years in the future then Howard would be ninety. Tony looked like he was in his late teens/ early twenties. Howard would have had to have had him at about seventy.  
As though sensing this train of thought, Tony rolled his eyes. “He married my mother when she was young and he was old.”  
Oh. Okay, then. It seemed that Tony did not want to talk about it. That was fair enough. It was probably a sensitive subject or something. 

The other man in the room took Tony by the shoulder and marched him out of the room. Steve stared after them, as Tony waved over his shoulder. “Bye, Cap, I’ll come back and see you tomorrow!” He promised, cheerily. Steve smiled but flinched as the man tightened his grip on the boy’s shoulder and snapped that he wasn’t even allowed in the room in the first place and there was no way he was getting back in.  
The boy leaned back to look at Steve and wink conspiratorially right before the heavy door slammed shut behind them.

 

So Tony had been kicked out of Captain America’s room, but the man was awake now and there was no way he was going to stay out of the way no matter what Fury said! They had bonded. They had made a connection. They were besties now. Besties! He had to call Rhodey and Pepper and tell them that he had met the actual Captain America! He could hold in his fanboy squealing until then. But for now, he had a Fury to torment. The Director Of SHIELD would be so done with him by the end of the day that he would let him into Captain America’s room again just to keep Tony off his back. 

Tony flopped casually in to Fury’s (surprisingly comfortable) Director chair, where he directs from when he was tired of doing his directing standing up.  
“So, Nicky, honey, what are we going to do for the rest of the day.”  
Fury scowled at him. Tony was not surprised as that was basically his default expression. He had spent many years of his life believing that scowling was the only expression Fury was capable of making and so was quite shocked whenever something happened and Fury softened his expression towards Tony (Tony, of all people!) and told him he cared about him. Tony knew Nick cared about him. He didn’t let anyone else sit in his director’s chair, but hearing him say it out loud is another matter altogether. 

“We aren’t doing anything, Stark-”  
“Great, in that case let’s go and get some burgers-”  
“You are going home and I am going to stay here and deal with the situation.”  
“What situation?”  
“Don’t pretend like you don’t know.”  
“I don’t!”  
“The situation of Captain America waking up and you just blurting out how much time he missed without letting us deal with it.” Fury gritted out.  
“If I left you and your shady organisation to ‘deal with it’, he would have just woke up alone in an empty room and probably freaked out and ran away and then how would you have dealt with the situation?” Tony argued.  
If possible, Fury scowled even harder. “How the hell would you know that’s what would happen?” He snapped. “He woke up ahead of schedule but we had a plan.”  
“Oh yeah, what was it? Convince him it was still the forties?” Tony took in the expression on Fury’s face. “Oh my god, oh my actual god, I can’t believe you were going to try and convince him it was still the forties! There is no way that would have worked!”  
“How are you so sure?”  
“Did you see how quickly he responded to me? His brain is working quick enough to realise that he’s not where he’s supposed to be, even if his body’s still slow from the ice.”

Tony hopped off the director’s chair and left to wander the halls of SHIELD. Fury told him he should be grateful that he wasn’t kicked out every time he broke into the headquarters, but Tony knew Fury had a soft spot for him really. He had also started making friends with some of the other agents and scientists. Clint and Nat were both fun to be around and Bruce was amazing! His work was incredible (yes, Tony had read his scientific journals) and he also turned into the Hulk. Tony really appreciated the way he turned into the Hulk. It was like being friends with a giant green rage monster. And then there was Thor. Tony was not sure how he should describe Thor. He was blonde, loud, great muscles and -oh yeah- he was the Norse God Of Thunder. Apparently. Tony was pretty sure he was just an alien who called himself a god, but other than that he was pretty cool, so Tony let it slide.

Tony wondered if any of his agents knew about Captain America. There was a pretty high chance that Nat knew. She knew everything. And if Nat knew then Clint knew because those two had some sort of scary, super assassin mind meld and also told each other everything. And Clint was a loud mouth when he wanted to be, but only with people he considered friends, so if he knew then Bruce and Thor definitely knew. So all in all there was like a ninety eight per cent possibility that the entire group of them knew about Captain America. And if they didn’t, Tony was going to tell them. Tony was going to tell every person he had ever met. And then some.

Okay, maybe not every person. Like Justin Hammer, for instance. Justin Hammer definitely did not need to know about Captain America waking up or Tony’s fanboy crush on the man. Captain America. Not Justin Hammer. Ew.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Or she.  
Let’s change that slightly, shall we? Think of Natasha and she will appear. If she is in the vicinity. Within hearing range. And she heard you mumbling to yourself about Captain America.  
“I know you like Captain America, but don’t you think this is taking it a bit too far?”  
“What? What’s taking it too far? The fact that SHIELD is keeping Captain America locked up in a room somewhere and I was totally there when he woke up!?” Tony babbled back to her.  
She seemed surprised. Tony was not fooled. There was no way she hadn’t known about that. Natasha knew everything, no matter how recently it had happened. She even knew weirdly creepy things like that Tony and Pepper had broken up about ten minutes after it had happened. He had been crying by himself and ready to drink himself in to oblivion in his workshop when she had shown up and asked for his help with a project.

She was most likely omniscient.  
It was the only logical explanation.

“He’s already awake? That’s… ahead of schedule.”  
Tony stared at her. “Yeah, that’s what Fury said too. Wait, Nat, you weren’t part of that stupid plan to convince him he was still in the forties were you?”  
Her face remained impassive, as though she expected him to find out about it all along, which she probably did, knowing Nat.  
“It would have been the best way.”  
“No it wouldn’t-”  
“We were trying to break it to him gently-”  
“He would have caught on straight away, Nat, he might be from the forties but he’s not an idiot.”

Clint chose that moment to drop down from the vents in the ceiling.  
“Hey, guys, who’s not an idiot?”  
Tony felt a grin stretch across his face.  
“That reminds me of something. Clint, you wouldn’t be willing to do me a favour, would you?” He asked, sweet as honey.  
Clint stared in suspicion.

 

Steve shivered, as he wrapped his arms around himself, just now noticing how cold the room was when left in it alone. He was sure he could feel a draft down his spine, but since this room did not have windows he was probably just imagining things.  
Steve realised the shiver running down his spine could possibly be from the sensation of someone watching him. He looked around the room for cameras but he couldn’t find any. Almost as soon as he sat back down on his bed, the door opened again and he perked up, expecting to see Tony- the boy had said he would be back- but it was just a couple of medical officials. He hoped they were just there to do some standard tests and not to try and experiment with the serum. The last time he had been in a lab, they had taken days before Bucky found out what they were doing and threw a fit. Apparently they weren’t supposed to treat human beings like that, but Steve didn’t see what was wrong with it since he did volunteer. They forgot to feed him sometimes, which was hell on his super serum enhanced body, but it was okay, they were only human. And they explained that going outside would contaminate the test results. And the room they left him in was completely bare of furniture or carpet and they took his clothes and he was left cold and shivering and exposed, curled up on the floor for Bucky to find him. 

Okay, those scientists didn’t treat him as well as they should have, he supposed, but after all he did say that they could do whatever they needed.

He hoped these doctors weren’t like those ones.

Luckily for him, all they wanted was to check him over to ensure he was okay and make pleasant small talk while doing so. They ensured him that he could keep his clothes on and the tests they were going to run would only take a few minutes. Steve was very pleased to find out that there were lady doctors now- Peggy would have loved that.

He expressed this to the lady doctor herself (and she was Asian! The world had changed so much. The Howling Commandos would be proud.) and the doctor smiled pleasantly and introduced herself as Dr. Helen Cho, but “Just call me Helen, Captain Rogers.”  
He smiled back at her. “If you call me Steve, Helen.”  
They shook hands before she departed with the rest of her medical staff.

The room was cold again. He brought his hands up to rub his arms to keep warm. What was wrong with him? Why was he so cold? 

He hoped they would not leave him by himself for too long, but the hours passed and he found himself lying on the bed, staring up at the bland, white ceiling wishing that he could just hug Peggy and Bucky one last time.

 

Tony shifted to try and find a comfortable position in the tight space. He (unlike Clint) did not appreciate being stuffed in small spaces and most definitely did not appreciate having to crawl through the air vents (even if it was to save Captain America… from being bored stiff by either having nothing to do or by all the paperwork Fury and Coulson would inevitably force on him.) Hawkeye crawled up in front, helping Tony through. Yeah, Hawkeye may be a bit of a dick but Tony was too so they got along brilliantly, which was why Barton had agreed to show Tony a way to get to the captain’s room without running into some stuck up SHIELD agents with sticks up their asses.  
There were not a lot of people that Tony would be willing to go to these lengths for but Captain America was definitely one of them! At least, that was the reasoning Tony used with himself as he convinced himself not to just get out as soon as possible and avoid the SHIELD agents the traditional way (by setting off an EMP then running like hell). Besides that, Clint did have a pretty great ass that Tony was currently getting a front seat view of. Clint glanced behind him to check if Tony was still there and caught him staring. Tony grinned, winked and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

He knew Clint wasn’t the kind of guy to take offense to something like that - they had both flirted heavily with each other as a joke until Natasha informed Clint of Tony’s age. This had made Clint stop and Tony had spent an hour crying the next day because his only friend there didn’t like him any more. He had been very embarrassed when Clint had found out and explained that he still liked him, he just felt like a cradle robber, trying to flirt with a nineteen year old. Luckily, Clint hadn’t taken offense and they were back to being friends immediately. Even if Clint no longer participated in the flirty banter. He tolerated Tony continuing to flirt though since it was the only way Tony knew how to communicate. Once Clint had told Natasha this theory, she was suddenly much friendlier with Tony than she ever had been before. Tony will be forever grateful to Clint for that.

Clint displayed this epic friendship between them by rolling his eyes and continuing forward. Tony snickered quietly and followed behind. Captain America had a pretty nice ass too - Tony should know, he checked on his way into the Captain’s room the first time around (and on his way out). He was so busy in the vents thinking about butts that he almost bumped face first into Clint’s when he stopped abruptly. (Not that Tony would have minded, but Clint probably would have.)

“This is it.” Clint whispered to him.  
“How do we get down?” Tony enquired. That had been the question he had been burning to ask since he had been hauled into the vents by Mr Arms and Ass.  
Clint gave him a look that seemed to imply that he was a moron, which Tony most definitely did not appreciate.  
“We have to jump.”  
“Jump?” Tony whispered harshly. “We have to fucking jump? I don’t know how to tell you this, Barton, but you’re like a foot taller than me. You might be able to jump but I won’t be able to!”  
Clint rolled his eyes. “I’ll go first and catch your clumsy midget ass on it’s way down.”  
“I am not a midget! Five foot six is a perfectly respectable height, thank you very much!”  
“For what? A hobbit?”

 

Steve was still staring at the ceiling when he heard voices coming from it. He glanced around to see if he could find his shield, or at least something to defend himself with if it came down to it. There was nothing. The room was entirely bare.

There was absolutely nothing else he could think to do when he found himself speaking into thin air. “Hello?” He called softly. “Is there anybody there?”  
It was possibly the most idiotic thing he could have done in that situation and he silently reprimanded himself. However his course of action did yield a result - Stark and a strange man he had not met before fell out of a vent in the ceiling and onto the floor in front of them.

Steve gaped.  
What on God’s green earth…?

The two men before him scrambled from off the top of each other. Neither of them appeared very embarrassed to be intertwined with another man - even if it was by accident. They managed to stand up and straighten out their rumpled clothing before they both focused on him with wolf like grins. Steve shifted uncomfortably. They were probably perfectly nice people but their expressions made him feel uneasy, as though he was about to be dragged into trouble. Bucky pulled that exact same expression. Not that Steve was any better about dragging his friends into trouble, he supposed.

“Um… hello?” Why did he make a simple greeting sound like a question. These future people already thought he was stupid. He had been here almost a day now and he did understand what a television was after about three agents explained it. He wished he could have one in his room to help prevent boredom. Maybe every time a new agent walked in he could start explaining what it was using simplified terms and short words. You know. Just to prove a point.

“Hello!” The one who was not Stark grinned back at him. “I’m Clint Barton, codename Hawkeye. This dumbass here is Tony Stark.”  
The other man - boy, really, now Steve is able to take a closer look at him - smiled charmingly. “We’ve met.” How did a boy that young get onto a military base? Was this even a military base? The kid only looked about fifteen. Why was he here? Was he supposed to be on the grounds.  
“Are you supposed to be here?” Slipped straight out of Steve’s mouth and he regretted the words immediately as the kid frowned at him. Had he offended him? Maybe he was older than he looked? Did he just assume a thirty year old was too young for a military base? He didn’t even know where he was - it probably was some sort of medical facility. Not a military base. Children are allowed in hospitals.

Tony only frowned for a moment before smirking. “Any of the rooms are open to everyone… if you don’t get caught.”  
Tony hadn’t caught on to what he was hinting at then. Good. Wait a minute.  
“You’re really not allowed in here?” Steve asked cautiously. He did not know why he was so surprised. They had come in through the ceiling. That wasn’t what people did when they had permission to enter where they were going. Then again, for all Steve knew, that could have just been the way future people decided to go about entering rooms. It was much more interesting than taking the door.  
“Nope!” Tony replied cheerily. “We used Hawky’s birdie tunnels just to come save you from room depression. Although personally, I prefer to use the window.”  
Hawky’s birdie tunnels? Steve wasn’t entirely sure what that phrase meant but something about it was so adorable that he felt an insurmountable urge to wrap Tony up in soft blankets and protect him from the world.  
Instead of following this strange and unprecedented urge that he decided to ignore completely, Steve asked “windows?”  
“Yeah. Much easier to get into when you’re flying than a door is.”

 

Captain America, Tony thought, looked a bit dumbstruck.


	2. Chapter 2

Captain America, Tony thought, looked dumbstruck.  
“Flying? You mean… on a plane?”  
“Nope” Tony chirped, “Try again.”  
The captain looked Tony up and down as though trying to determine something. The gaze burned into Tony’s brain and he shivered in delight.  
“You can fly without a plane so… do you have a serum? Like mine? One that can gives you the ability to fly?”  
Tony threw back his head and laughed. “Close enough, Cap. I have a robotic suit of armour that allows me to fly. Oh. And also it can shoot lasers.”  
Captain America stared at Tony. He seemed to be struggling with something.   
“You’re just messing with me.”  
“I most decidedly am not messing with you. Which is unusual for me because I love to mess-”

“He does.” Clint interjected, looking far too amused for someone who had opted out of the actual discussion and decided to just sit back and watch Tony embarrass himself. And Tony had thought he had been doing so well so far!  
“He does what? Have a robotic suit of armour or like to mess people around?”   
Clint shrugged, unbothered. “Both.”

Tony was happy Clint was backing him up, but he wished that maybe he would be a little more convincing. He looked as though he was about to crack up laughing at any moment. Not exactly the best way to convince a man from the forties that he had a rocket powered super suit. That could shoot lasers. And ran entirely on clean energy. And had retractable rollerblades (which, in his opinion, were the best part of the entire suit. What? It’s not as though he had been allowed roller skates as a kid. The closest things he managed to get to a toy was a Captain America figurine and a Bucky Bear. Hence, the hero worship.)

Tony turned to the live action Captain (that was most definitely not a figurine. Although with a figure like that he might as well have been!) “Would it convince you if I told you that it also has rollerblades?”   
The man stared at him. “No.”  
“Oh.” Tony pouted. It would have convinced him. Then again, he was used to it. And maybe it wouldn’t have convinced him because nobody else had managed to recreate his armour yet. If someone came up to him and told him that they were wearing the exact same armour as him, he would probably laugh in their faces. But forties boy didn’t have that excuse! He was in the future! He should be believing everything anybody tells him because he hadn’t even been outside this room yet!

He hadn’t even been outside of this room yet.  
Tony would have to change that very very soon. He couldn’t have Captain America going completely stir crazy! 

“Hey. Do you wanna go outside?” He asked, delighted at his idea.  
The ever vigilant and intimidating Hawkeye choked on his own spit.  
The larger man brightened up and looked oh so adorably hopeful that Tony wanted to cry.   
“No.” A growl came from the door of the room. The actual door. Not the ceiling vents. The three of them turned to face the voice, and discovered that it belonged to none other than the Director of SHIELD, himself. 

Tony knew this would happen. SHIELD always ruined everything good.

 

Steve’s shoulders drooped as Director Fury denied Tony’s request for a visit to the outside world. He was being slowly driven insane from being cooped up in this tiny, bland room with nothing but his own thoughts for company. The overriding emotion he had felt when the two men had dropped from the ceiling was relief, followed by gratitude that he no longer had to be alone.   
Why was he not allowed outside? Was he being disciplined? Is it because he had lost the army a plane? Or because he had purposely put her down into the ice and, therefore had tried to escape his military duty? Perhaps the reason was more sinister than that - they could want to experiment on him as those scientists did during the war. They had assured him that he was safe here and that they weren’t going to do any experiments on him but how was he supposed to believe that if they wouldn’t even let him outside this room?

At least the boy - Tony - appeared to be genuine. And genuinely disappointed that his commanding officer wasn’t about to let Steve outside. Steve would have to stick close to him because of that. Not because of any other reason. Definitely not any other reason, he thought, pushing down drifts of fantasies where Tony stands too close and looks up at him with huge doe eyes from underneath long lashes and a soft pink blush painted across his cheeks. Steve shook his head in an attempt to clear it. It worked, as it made Tony tilt his head adorably and his mind went blank.

While he had wandered off into his own thoughts, Tony and Fury had dissolved into some sort of argument over him. Tony seemed to be on the side of letting him roam free while Tony seemed to want him to stay in his tiny little cell forever. He didn’t want Tony to get in trouble over him so he decided it was time to interrupt.   
“I don’t mean to be impertinent, sir-”  
“I fucking doubt that.” Fury murmured under his breath.  
Steve forged on, undeterred. “-but perhaps instead of going outside, I could at least, maybe, walk around your base?”  
Fury scowled and opened his mouth to answer, but he was interrupted.  
“Yeah, Nick, he could.” Tony was far too gleeful for this situation, especially when he had just had a fight with his commanding officer. He was probably going to be disciplined for that, depending on how strict Director Fury is, and from what Steve has seen so far, he was extremely strict. Steve gnawed on his lower lip.

Fury didn’t look happy about their suggestion.Tony might be in trouble. Steve really wanted to at least see a colour that wasn’t white on the walls.  
“Maybe I could have a guide?” He suggested innocently. “Tony could do it?”  
Tony’s grin widened. “Hell yeah, I could!”  
Steve smiled fondly at him before turning back to Director Fury. “Please, sir? I’ve had three different agents explain what a television is to me and if there’s a fourth I might actually break through a wall.”  
“Fine.” Fury snapped. “But if anything goes wrong, I’m blaming you, Stark.”  
And with that and a swish of his leather coat, he was gone. Dramatically.

“Wow,” Tony said, summing up Steve’s thoughts. “That was dramatic.”

Clint snorted and pulled himself up into the air vents once again. He ducked his only his head back down just long enough to say “Good luck with that, Stark.” before disappearing off into the ceiling.

 

Tony was kicking himself. (Wow. That was dramatic.) Really, Stark, that was the height of comedy right there was it? At least Clint had managed to make a somewhat smooth exit, while Tony stood there awkwardly after babbling to Captain America for ten minutes and subsequently having an argument with Fury. Cap probably hated him already and only suggested him as a guide because he was the only slightly familiar person on this ship and the captain was desperate to leave this room. Not that Tony wouldn’t also be desperate to leave this room. This room was depressing as fuck.

The man in question turned to look expectantly at Tony, as though he would tell him the answers to the universe. Well, for all Tony knew, that’s basically what Steve was feeling right now.   
“So, this tour will probably be a lot less awkward if you tell me your name.”  
“I- I thought you already knew me?”   
Tony rolled his eyes. Come on, Cap, keep up! “I know you’re Captain America but nobody’s told me your actual name. Something about it being classified.” Tony scowled and muttered under his breath. “Stupid, bureaucratic SHIELD agents don’t know anything.”  
Captain America still appeared to be quite confused. He had, in fact, been confused since Tony and Clint dropped through his ceiling. However, he still managed to formulate an answer.  
“My name is Steve. Steve Rogers.”  
“Well, Steve Rogers, want to get out of this shithole?”  
“Oh God, yes.”  
Tony took a moment to appreciate that sound coming from Captain America’s - Steve’s - lips as he gave him a long, lustful gaze up and down his body. Steve’s ears and cheeks turned pink. How adorable.

“Alright.” Tony clapped his hands together. “Let’s get this show on the road.”  
“The road?” Steve questioned. “Are we going outside?”  
“Ah.” Tony had been assigned Steve’s guide and he had immediately found a speedbump. (God damn it, Tony, will you stop with the road metaphors already?) “N-no, it’s just an expression. You know, when you want to get started with something.”  
“Oh, alright.” Steve poked his tongue out, looking extremely focused, as though attempting to memorise something.  
“Maybe it will help if you take notes.” Tony suggested.  
“Really?” Steve brightened. “It won’t be too much trouble?”  
“Nah.” Tony shrugged. “All we need to do is get you a notebook and pen.”  
Steve seemed relieved that notebooks and pens still existed in the future.

 

Steve had thought that fancy, futuristic technology would take the place of writing things down, but since the future still had notebooks and pens he guessed that wasn’t the case. The volume of his sigh of relief was almost embarrassing - especially with the way that Tony looked at him with amusement. Steve flushed. He hadn’t meant to sigh so loudly.

“C’mon, Cap, let’s get going. You know that saying, right? Then again, even if you didn’t, it’s self-explanatory. Let us begin your tour of the future!”  
Steve felt an inexplicably warm, fuzzy feeling rising up in his chest as he watched Tony’s excitement grow. The boy was practically jumping up and down in his haste to get Steve out of the room. This was good because Steve was also incredibly eager to leave this room.   
“Where do we start?” He chirped.  
“Wow, your attitude turned around real quick.” Tony said.   
Steve let out a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his head. He was just excited. He no longer had to stay in that awful room!

Steve followed Tony out of the room with a look of wide-eyed wonder already prepared, only to be disappointed when they came out to an empty corridor painted entirely in dull gray. This must have shown on his face, as Tony chuckled. “Don’t you worry, Capsicle, the future doesn’t all look like this. C’mon, I’ll show you a place with a view.”  
Tony proceeded to lead him around a sequence of similar corridors until they reached a door. Tony pushed the door open and gestured for Steve to go through first. Steve went blushingly. But his wide-eyed look of wonder was useful when he caught a glimpse of the future.

Tony had taken him to the roof of what appeared to be some kind of incredibly large aircraft hovering above the ocean. A towering, beautiful city all dressed up in lights shined through the darkness of the night sky, reflecting in the water surrounding it. Steve gasped. It was gorgeous. He couldn’t tear his eyes away. At least, he couldn’t until Tony’s face popped up in front of his, grinning.  
“Well? What do you think? Do you like it? Do you? Do you? Do you? Huh? Oh, wait, no… please don’t cry.” Tony changed tune halfway through his barrage, as he noticed Steve attempting to surreptitiously wipe his eyes with his sleeves. Tony’s face collapsed.”Oh… you hate it. Of course you do. What was I thinking of course you hate it how could it replace your own time-”  
Steve cut him off. “I don’t! I don’t hate it, Tony. It- it’s just so… beautiful. How do you stand it?”

“Beautiful?” Tony turned to face the city, the reflection of the lights dancing in his eyes. A gasp caught in Steve’s throat. Tony smiled. “I’m glad you see it too.”

Somehow, Steve was in no way surprised that Tony found beauty in technology. He had barely known him for a full day and it was obvious that the boy was smitten with it. 

 

Tony gazed into the distance. Captain A- Steve. Steve was right. New York City was beautiful. He loved it up here, but it was a much better view when he was flying.  
He turned to the captain. “So, how would you like a bird’s eye view?” 

The man in question raised an inquisitive eyebrow. Obviously he was just dazzled and amazed at Tony’s genius and not just confused and disbelieving. Captain America totally believed in Tony. Definitely. That look he was casting wasn’t skeptical at all. It was obviously just impressed.  
“And how, exactly, do you propose we get a bird’s eye view? This plane may have some fancy future technology, but if we get any further up then the air is gonna start thinning out. We won’t be able to breath.”  
Tony smirked. He loved it when he found someone intelligent to talk to. But he loved showing off more.  
“Duh. We’ll go up using my super amazing flying robot suit with lasers and roller blades that I told you about.”  
Steve looked at him dubiously. “Oh. The robot suit. You’re still trying to convince me that it exists then?”  
“It does exist!”  
“Prove it, then!”  
“That’s what I’m trying to do! Only… “ Tony was hit with a sudden sinking feeling of realisation. “Only I left it at home.” He pouted.  
Steve snickered. “So you definitely have a flying robot suit, but you left it at home. Otherwise you could prove it to me.”

Tony pouted some more.He’d left his suit at home for upgrades with JARVIS and so Captain America wouldn’t be freaked out but instead now he was being mocked… by Captain America, no less! The things he did for attention. The many, many things.

Tony rolled his eyes, in typical teenage fashion. “I’ll show it to you tomorrow. Do you want to go see something else?”   
“I do want to see something else but… maybe we can stay up here for just a couple more minutes?”  
“We can stay for however long you want to.”

Captain America and Iron Man stayed on the roof, gazing at their city for three hours before they turned away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a much shorter second chapter. But on the bright side, I've started trying to write at least a little bit every day so it will all get done eventually. :)
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An ending & a beginning.

Steve followed Tony like a little lost puppy. 

Steve was still in awe, but Tony appeared to be in deep concentration. The obvious reason behind that would be that he didn’t know where next to take Steve that would be able to one-up the first place. Eventually, Steve’s stomach decided for them by growling angrily. A hand shot up and pressed down on it in an effort to make it shut up, but Tony merely laughed delightedly. “Looks like our next stop is the cafeteria, then, Cap?”

Steve nodded quickly, trying and completely failing not to look too eager.

He must be lucky, because Tony didn’t seem to mind being stuck with a (literal and metaphorical) giant dork. Tony grabbed his wrist and pulled him happily in the direction of what Steve assumed would be the cafeteria. The blond dork blushed. They were practically holding hands! He couldn’t imagine the amount of teasing his Commandos would put him through if they saw him now - then again, maybe the information that he was attracted to another man was something that should be kept confidential. To his own brain. Never to leave his mouth. Ever.

And Tony!  
How would Tony react if he knew his childhood hero was thinking of him like that? That made it somewhat more disgusting to Steve. Tony was a man, but he was also practically just a child. He was a boy and Steve could be affecting him with this - this disease!

He wrenched his hand out of Tony’s grip. A flash of hurt crossed the boy’s face, but he continued on anyway, expecting the captain to follow him. Steve bowed his head in shame and chased after him.

“You’re gonna love it in there, Cap, and by love it I mean hate it. The food here is absolutely disgusting, but as we’re stuck here until the helicarrier lands there’s no way to get anything gourmet. We can’t even order pizza.”  
Steve blinked. Tony did not seem to be affected at all by Steve’s sudden change in mood.   
“Wow. Stuck on a ship with nothing good to eat. Sorry! I promise our next date will be better than the first!” Tony chirped, winking and laughing.

Steve gaped. Didn’t the kid know that sort of talk could get him in trouble?  
He glanced around quickly, ensuring nobody had overheard their conversation. There was nobody around. Good. He didn’t want the poor kid to get himself into trouble just because he said the wrong thing in front of the wrong person. A person he assumed to be an agent because of their uniform stood at the end of the hallway. Steve drew himself up, as large as he could and glared intimidatingly at the man. Steve didn’t know if it was Tony’s own illness or if Steve’s was contagious affecting him, but either way he wasn’t going to let the boy get arrested. He was Steve’s only friend in this new world. And Steve couldn’t deny being attracted to him, so for all either of them knew, it could have been Steve affecting how he was acting.

 

Captain America was acting weird.  
Not that Tony could blame him. If he had been frozen for almost a hundred years in a block of ice then he would probably not be taking the situation as well as Steve was right now. On the other hand, though, the future. What a hell of a thing to be able to see! It sent delighted shivers down Tony’s spine just thinking about it - imagining what he could do with all that futuristic technology. 

Only a few short months ago, he wouldn’t have hesitated at the opportunity to travel forwards in time, but now he wouldn’t. Although, the only thing stopping him were his new friends (Friends! He had friends! Tony would never admit it, but he had locked himself in a bathroom and cried in happiness the first time he was ever called a friend by Clint, and he did it again when he found out that Natasha was his friend too.) and if he could take his friends to the future with him, he would do it in a heartbeat.

If he had the technology.  
Which he could probably invent. Possibly in a week or so.

But, back to Captain America!  
The man was acting strangely. He had seemed witty and awestruck at first, if not a bit shy, but just as they were walking down the hallway, the blond had suddenly withdrawn into himself and started being short with Tony.

Tony didn’t know what he had done wrong, but he saw the intimidating glare the Captain turned on an innocent SHIELD agent that was passing by and Tony did not want that look turned on him. It was terrifying enough just looking at it when it’s directed at someone else. He didn’t dare turn back to face the man, knowing that angry expression would be on his face.

It wasn’t fair, though! Tony didn’t even know what he did wrong this time! He had hoped that Captain America wouldn’t be anything like Howard had described him as, and so far he had lived up to that hope. But there was still time for things to deteriorate. Especially if Tony was annoying him already! 

Howard had always told Tony that he was an annoying little brat and Tony had always believed him. It’s not like Tony had ever proved him wrong. Clint and Natasha had attempted to rid him of his mindset but it had never worked. Of course, Tony was just a useless little brat that didn’t know anything and would never live up to Captain America.

As soon as the agent that Steve had frightened off scampered out of sight, Natasha appeared on the scene. She had this unnerving way of showing up whenever Tony started thinking badly about himself. Like right now. He didn’t deserve such a good friend. She was the most terrifying person he had ever met, but she treated him so kindly and so gently that sometimes it was hard to remember that she was a dangerous assassin that could break his neck with her thighs. Captain America continued to glare. The Black Widow stared stoically back.  
Natasha was the first to break the gaze, as she decided to acknowledge Tony. She walked up to them, brushing carelessly past Steve and hugged Tony. He didn’t know what it was for but it was nice. He decided not to question it.

“Good morning, Tony.”  
Tony beamed back with Nat’s arms still wrapped around him. “Morning, Nat! I was just taking Cap on a tour. You want to come with?”  
She gave him one last squeeze before shaking her head. “No, thanks, sweetheart, I’ve got a mission soon.”  
Tony pouted. “Alright then.”  
Natasha wandered off the way she had came. Steve coughed awkwardly from his place behind Tony.  
“So- uh… is- is that your dame?”  
Tony blinked at him in surprise, then threw back his head and laughed. “Oh, Cap,” He chuckled, wiping away a stray tear “You kill me.”  
Steve merely continued to look worried.

 

Steve did not understand the situation. Maybe Tony was straight after all? Just because he laughed at the thought of that red head being his girl didn’t mean he didn’t want her to be. But then, what was with all the comments he had been making? Maybe that was just how future people talked now? If Tony wasn’t sick in the head like Steve was then why did Steve still feel so strongly attracted to him? That probably wasn’t a good idea.

But then, maybe, Steve thought selfishly, maybe Tony is like me but the woman is the one who wants things to develop further. And maybe Tony is laughing because he isn’t interested in her whatsoever and is going to keep on flirting with Steve. No. This was ridiculous. Steve shouldn’t wish other people ill like that - especially when those other people were so kind to him, as Tony was.

Tony peered up at Steve, nervously, as though he had been caught doing something he shouldn’t. He was trembling very slightly. If Steve hadn’t had the serum enhancing his eyes, then he would have missed it. Why was he shaking? Was he scared? But what would he be scared of? The corridor was empty of anything except Steve- Steve. It was Steve that Tony was afraid of. But why? Oh God, was it because of the flirting? Maybe Tony had only just realised how he sounded and was terrified that Steve was going to take it the wrong way. He was a lot bigger than Tony. If that was the case, Steve understood why Tony would be nervous. But why would he only just realise? 

The only thing that had happened was that woman had ran into them. That could be it. Of course! Tony remembered that he was supposed to be attracted to women! There wasn’t anything else that Steve could think of. Steve realised he was still scowling. Was that why Tony had thought Steve had a bad reaction to his flirting? 

Steve attempted to arrange his face into a sweeter expression.

Tony, if anything, looked even more terrified than before. Crap. That was not what Steve was going for. Steve tried harder to soften his expression as Tony stood shaking in front of him.  
“You were… going to show me something else?” Steve prompted gently.  
Tony lit up. “Oh right! The cafeteria - obviously you must be starving!”  
“You know, now that you mention it I am a little hungry.”  
“I thought you would be.” 

Steve let Tony grab his hand and pull him into the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sorry this took so long and for the abrupt ending but I kind of lost interest in it about halfway through. :/  
> I'm not too happy with how this turned out tbh. I think I prefer the ending of chapter 2 as a fic ending.
> 
> Part 21/100 finished.   
> I hope you enjoyed it! Leave your reviews down below :D

**Author's Note:**

> Look! I'm not dead!  
> I spent so long procrastinating on this one that I decided just to post it as it is and add the rest later (once I've actually written it). Of course all authors need encouragement! (nudge nudge wink wink) I hope you guys like it. 
> 
> Please leave a comment telling me what you think! :)
> 
> Part 21 of my 100 Prompts Challenge.
> 
> _________  
> You can now subscribe to my patreon to see original works from me! :)  
> https://www.patreon.com/hellslittleliar


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